Destroyed
by Eon Kitty
Summary: 10th October, the annual celebration of the defeat of the Kyuubi. Songs drift from the centre of Konoha, but one will bring hidden wounds up. Could this be the link that joins an unbreakable love? NaruSasu. Warnings language, boyxboy !MANGA 367 SPOILER!


Destroyed

Summery: 10th October, the annual celebration of the defeat of the kyuubi. Songs drift from the centre of Konoha, but one will bring hidden wounds up. Could this be the link that joins an unbreakable love?

Disclaimer: No I don't own Naruto or the song. They belong to Kishimoto-sama and Within Temptation. You'd know if I owned it. It wouldn't be suitable for little kiddy-winks and Sasuke would definitely not gone after old snaky pants. But Akanami is mine and you can only have her over my unconscious body. Steal her and I will find you and tickle torture you to death.

A/N: Ah... this has been in my head for so long, it's stopping me writing anything else. But if you haven't read manga chapter 367: DO NOT READ YET, lest your eyes get burnt from spoilers. And boy are they big ones. This is my dedication to Naruto on his birthday.

Oh another note. You all think the English anime dub is bad. My best friend found the first manga volume of Naruto in the shops, so she brought it and let me read it. And I cried and fell into hysterics. It was so bad. I mean "Art of the doppleganger." WTF is that!? God's I thought they couldn't make the English version of stuff any worse...Ahem... Anyways, ignore the mad rant... enjoy, and review! (Sobs in corner from the memory)

NARUSASUNARUSASUNARUSASUNARUSASUNARUSASUNARUSASUNARUSASU

Cheers and shouts of happiness rung out on the streets of Konoha, as people celebrated.

A stage had been set up in the middle of the village, surrounded by decorations of foxes and paper chains, with lanterns lighting up the streets.

The lights on the stage dimmed before focusing on the centre. A lone female stood with her hands clasped on the microphone in front of her. She was dressed in a pure white halter dress, that hung to her ankles, hiding her white sandals. The white stood in contrast to her short red hair and green eyes.

"This is dedicated to a close friend to me. He will know who he is and this a message to you all. Because people can never look beyond what they want to see." Her voice was quiet but it echoed across the court.

She nodded to someone behind her and a soft piano played. Then a rock beat played and Akanami's voice floated to everyone's ears.

"_I did my best to please you  
But my best was never good enough  
Somehow you're only able to see  
All I am not  
Did you ever look behind?  
Aren't you afraid of the pieces you'll find?  
I have failed you  
But you have failed me too"_

Naruto stood in shock. He had told her that this was a favourite of his but he never expected her to sing it for him. Sakura saw his face and took his hand and squeezed gently. He looked at her and smiled softly, grateful for the silent comfort.

Everyone stood gaping at the meaning of the words that were being sung to them. They haunted them and they thought of one person.

Tsunade smiled to herself as she watched Akanami's words sink into everyone. She felt bad that she herself could could not change the people's view on Naruto, even as Hokage, but she was grateful that there was someone that was willing to do it. Suddenly she blinked. Surely that couldn't be... but it was... it looked like her. Tsunade couldn't believe it. It was Uzumaki Kushina. Well more like an aura of her but... But she died fifteen years ago. But then again, wasn't that Akanami fifteen years old... and born on the same day she died. Tsunade smiled again. Even in death, Kushina wanted to protect her son. If that was the case, then she would have nothing to worry about.

"_It's so easy to destroy and condemn  
The ones you do not understand  
Do you ever wonder if it's justified?  
It's so easy to destroy and condemn  
The ones you do not understand  
In your life why didn't you ever try?" _

At this point, tears had started to fall down some of the women's faces and Naruto's friends. They had never heard anyone sing with that much emotions for someone else.

Sasuke sat in a nearby tree and listened to the words that Akanami was singing. She had a nice voice but he cared little for what she was singing about until his gaze travelled over Naruto. He frowned as he noticed how tense he was. Then it dawned on him. Akanami was singing about Naruto. But... why? He almost slapped himself when he remembered. Naruto was the kyuubi holder. But that still didn't explain anything. He sighed. After this damn festival was over he'd go ask Naruto.

"_I close my eyes as I walk the thin line between love and hate  
For the person with the same blood in his veins  
You show no regrets  
About all the things you did or said  
I have failed you  
But believe me you failed me too"_

Kakashi sat in shock. He still hadn't recovered from being told that his number one knuckle head student was actually his sensei's son. He was upset that he hadn't been told, well angry more than anything, but he knew that once Naruto found out, he was going to be pissed. The knowledge had been kept from him for years. He spent his whole life idolising Minato, like everyone else in the village, not even knowing that he was from the same blood, the same power. Kakashi growled. The villagers were cruel people. They hated the son of the most powerful Hokage yet, shunned him and not one of them showed any regret. Well after this, they may think twice about what they say... Maybe.

"_It's so easy to destroy and condemn  
The ones you do not understand  
Do you ever wonder if it's justified  
It's so easy to destroy and condemn_

_The ones you do not understand _

_In your life why didn't you ever try"_

Iruka stood a few feet behind the boy he called a son. He noticed how tense he was, more than normal on this day. He knew how much Naruto hated this day, and now he had been dragged outside to deal with all the harsh words, when he would prefer to just crawl into his own or Iruka's bed. 'But today is different.' Iruka thought 'Today he is sharing his birthday with people, other than me, who care.' Iruka smiled warmly as tears ran down his face. There were people who cared.

"_It's so easy to destroy and condemn  
The ones you do not understand  
Do you ever wonder if it's justified  
It's so easy to destroy and condemn  
The ones you do not understand_

_Do you ever wonder if it's justified?"_

Akanami finished singing, and the melody faded out. The audience was silent before Naruto and Sakura started clapping. Then, as if it were contagious, more and more people started clapping, until everyone in the audience was cheering to Akanami. She blushed, unused to so much attention, but smiled brightly, waved, bowed then bounced of the stage.

Naruto smiled at the girl as she bounded of the stage. It was funny really, she was like the female version of him. Bright, loud and full of energy. And she always knew how he felt, better than anyone else. Like that song, he had mentioned it once, and she was singing it for him. He felt people's stares on the back of his head and shivered involuntarily. 'I'll see Akanami-nee-chan later. She'll understand.' He thought before teleporting away.

Sasuke watched as Naruto vanished into a cloud of smoke and frowned. Where the hell was the idiot going? Shouldn't he be rushing backstage to see Akanami? Sasuke stood up from the tree he was standing and tried to sense Naruto's chakra. He sat back down and sighed. No luck. He leant his head on the tree. "When did the loser get so good at masking his chakra?" he asked out loud.

'When he was searching for you.' a little voice in his head answered him. Sasuke ignored the voice, stood up and jumped off the tree. Guess he'd have to look for Naruto the hard way.

Sakura looked behind her, opening her mouth to speak to Naruto when she realised that he wasn't there. "Where...?" She looked around for him but was unsuccessful. She frowned at herself. She was so used to not being able to feel Naruto's chakra that she never noticed when he disappeared. He had become so skilled in masking his chakra over the years, as well as other things, it was amazing. It was hard to believe that this was Konoha's number one drop-out. She smiled softly to herself as she tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear, watching as Sasuke jumped out of the tree he had been sitting in. Sakura decided that she'd leave both Naruto and Sasuke alone for a while. That is, if Sasuke was going where she thought he was going. If he was, well, who was she to deny the closest people in her life a chance at happiness, in what ever form it came in.

"Billboard brow? Hello? Sakura? Hello, are you in there? Come on, we're going to see Akanami-chan now. You said you wanted to come." Ino's voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Huh, what is it Ino-pig?" Sakura responded, the insult coming out instinctively. She was still staring in the direction Sasuke had left.

Ino sighed loudly, noticing where Sakura's gaze lingered. She had felt the direction Sasuke's chakra went to. "You know, you really should give up on him. It's been a year since he's come back. Try Lee-kun or something."

Sakura's smile fell. So Ino still believed that she harboured feelings for Sasuke. Ino was her best friend now, insults aside, and she didn't realise that she had given up on Sasuke? Still, she didn't let her hurt through. "So, you want me to give up on Sasuke-kun so you can have him all to yourself?"

Ino's face flushed in half embarrassment, half anger. "No! I have Choji-kun. I... I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all." She mumbled.

"Ah, so you do care after all." Sakura said, almost sarcastically. "Just so you know, I have." she walked towards the back of the stage, leaving Ino standing there with a confused look on her face. "Huh?"

Sasuke ran passed the crowds of people and stalls to a path that led to the outskirts of town. He had found Naruto there once who had simply replied that it was his secret den. He was hoping that Naruto still went there.

Just as he was about to tear around the corner, a sharp pain coursed from his wrist. "Damn it." He muttered under his breath, before pulling his sleeve up. A small seal in the centre of his wrist pulsed gently as two Anbu members appeared.

"Where do you think you're going?" the one to his right said.

Sasuke remained silent. He really couldn't be bothered to deal with them right now. He needed to see where Naruto went.

The one to Sasuke's left growled. "Answer, Uchiha-san." Again, Sasuke remained silent.

The first Anbu member was about to speak again, when Naruto stepped out from the clearing. "He's with me. We were about to start training." His voice was strangely distant.

The Anbu member sneered behind their masks but nodded anyway. The one to Sasuke's left pressed two fingers to the seal on Sasuke's wrist, before disappearing with his partner.

"Naruto, I-" Sasuke started but Naruto cut him off.

"Sasuke, what is that?" he indicated to the seal still visible on Sasuke's wrist.

Sasuke twitched, but rolled his sleeve down. "Nothing."

Naruto sighed. "Don't give me that shit Sasuke. What is it?"

"It's a seal. I thought you'd be able to tell at least that much." he taunted. Inside though, he was worried. This wasn't like Naruto at all.

"Well, thank you mister obvious. A dead man could have told me that." Naruto replied, his voice full of an uncharacteristic sarcasm.

Sasuke snapped, his patience with Naruto worn thin. He lunged forward to grab Naruto's jacket, but Naruto swung his arm round and caught Sasuke's fist. "What the fuck is wrong with you Naruto?"

Naruto pushed Sasuke away with his arm and flipped backwards. "Don't change the subject. Now answer my question. What is it?"

Sasuke sighed, knowing that Naruto was stubborn and would not answer his own questions until he answered his. "It's a restraining seal. It stops me going a certain distance away from the centre of the village."

Naruto stared at him. All this time he had thought that Sasuke was back because he wanted to be back. He had turned up one day, covered in blood, before the Anbu had turned up and taken him away. He had thought that Sasuke had decided to stay, for good, not just come back because that was where his feet had lead him to. But, Sasuke was bound here, and Naruto couldn't tell if he wanted to stay or not.

Naruto just nodded, for once dumbstruck as to what to say.

"Now, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Did you know, it's my birthday today?" Naruto tilted his head up to watch the sky, ignoring Sasuke's question again.

Sasuke scoffed, forgetting Naruto hadn't answered his question. "I'm surprised you're not celebrating. You have a whole damn festival on your birthday."

Naruto tensed before lowering his head to face Sasuke. His eyed had steeled over and his whisker marks thickened. "Do you know what festival this is Sasuke? Do you?" His voice was dark.

Sasuke flinched, though Naruto didn't catch it. He shook his head no.

Naruto let out a hollow laugh that chilled Sasuke to his core. This wasn't Naruto. It was someone trying to be him and failing miserably. But no matter how many times his brain kept telling him that, his heart was having none of it. "I didn't think that you would. After all, if it doesn't concern you, than you don't care. It's the celebration of the defeat and sealing of the kyuubi. The mark of the defeat of the demon that could have destroyed all of Konoha."

"Yeah, and? I still don't get why you're not dancing and celebrating."

Naruto's fist clenched and unclenched as he took a deep breath to calm himself. "I thought you of all people would remember. My rival not even remembering my great source of power. I have the kyuubi sealed in me, you bastard."

Sasuke gave him a look that said "So?" Naruto growled in frustration before punching a nearby tree. It splintered into tiny pieces that showered down.

"People see me as the kyuubi. They don't see me. They are so clouded in their hate for the demon that stole people from them that they forget that it's sealed away. Ever since I can remember, even when I lived in the orphanage, I knew nothing but harsh words." He stopped, before taking a deep breath and slumping to the ground. Sasuke wordlessly sat down next to him, getting the feel that this was something that Naruto needed to do.

"It was always demon boy, brat, loser, idiot, pest, scum and loads of other names. But you wouldn't know how it feels. Everyone always praised you. You never had to feel the effects of constant name calling and bulling. Everyone believed that the sun shone out of your damn arse." he lent back on the grass, and coming up to shield his eyes from the sun.

Sasuke lent back, hands resting on the grass "Feel better now?"

Naruto nodded. He had kept that bottled up for all his life, so to finally let that all that out, felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"You know, I don't get you at all." Sasuke said quietly. "You are the most emotionally expressive person I know. If you're happy you smile, if you're sad you cry, when you're angry you yell. So why have you kept all this bottled up?"

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I.. I got fed up of crying over everything that happened to me. Crying wouldn't change the fact that it had happened and it wouldn't make me feel any better. So, I bottled it up. It would leak out when I cried for other people, but I never cried for myself... except from when you tried to kill me again."

Sasuke turned his face away. He didn't want to look at Naruto. "I take it that this day is worse than normal for the insults then?"

"Yeah." Naruto drummed his fingers on the ground before sitting up and facing Sasuke. He frowned when he noticed that Sasuke was facing the other way. "Say, bastard, why'd you come here anyway? I thought that you had training to do."

"Hn." Sasuke answered. He wasn't about to tell Naruto that he had come down here to see what was wrong with him.

Naruto huffed and lay back down. "Fine, don't answer me then, bastard." He closed his eyes again, humming softly to himself.

Sasuke looked to Naruto when he closed his eyes. It was hard to believe that Naruto had gone from cold, mad and ranting, to the annoying ball of sunshine in a matter of minutes. He frowned. Maybe him and Naruto were alike in more ways than one. It couldn't have been possible to mood swing than fast. The only possible way was a mask. A totally believable, foolproof mask. He sighed quietly to himself. Naruto had beaten him at something. He should have been furious that the idiot had beaten him finally, but all that was there, was a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

He sat up straight as he though of a way to reassure Naruto that everything was better now and that the kyuubi didn't matter. A memory of his mother kissing his forehead flashed briefly through his mind before he leant over to press a kiss to Naruto's forehead.

However, at that moment, Naruto decided that he needed to stretch. His and Sasuke's lips connected and Naruto's eyes flew open. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and stared into equally shocked blue eyes. He pulled back quickly, a light blush forming on his cheeks. The weird feeling in his stomach from before turned into a full scale butterfly attack and his heart beat went a mile a minute. He had always thought of Naruto as a close friend, almost like a brother, so why was he reacting this way? It didn't feel like the bond he had with his family, nor the people that he could call friends, so what was it?

Naruto shot up, a blush forming on his cheeks also. His heart felt like it was going to explode at the rate it was going and his stomach was doing loops and somersaults. He had not expected the kiss, nor the feeling that accompanied it. Sakura has kissed him once, on the cheek mind you, and while he was happy, he didn't get the feelings he was now. He didn't understand it fully, but he had a suspicion that he had gotten his feelings mixed up between Sakura and Sasuke.

A short silence fell over the young men, before Naruto started to fidget. "What the... I mean... why?"

Sasuke didn't answer for a moment. "I... I wanted to show you that you're not alone any more and that you don't have to hide." It was unlike him to say something along those lines, but he knew that Naruto needed to hear that. Naruto always got a reaction for him, no matter what.

Naruto was silent for a moment, so Sasuke was unprepared for what he did next. Naruto launched himself at Sasuke, gripping him in a tight hug. Sasuke fell backwards and Naruto's legs went to the side of his. He buried his face in Sasuke's neck, and Sasuke could feel moisture soaking through his shirt. Sasuke stiffened slightly at the contact, but slid his hands around Naruto's back. Naruto buried his face further into Sasuke's neck and it muffled his cries.

"Naruto, why are you crying?" He asked as he rubbed small circles on his back.

"I'm not crying." He mumbled. "Well okay I am. But I'm not sad. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." he pulled back away from Sasuke's neck, looked at him and sniffled. "Actually, come to think of it, it's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." Sasuke didn't say anything however, just pulled Naruto close again. Naruto settled his head in between Sasuke's shoulder and neck with a contented sigh. During these few moments after the kiss, his head and his heart calmed down. He realised that over time, his feelings for Sakura turned into that of a sister and those feelings for Sasuke had turned into ones of romance. He refused to call it love, because at sixteen, you can't be sure that you've found the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, although his heart reckoned that Sasuke came real close. Maybe, this could work between the pair of them. Naruto smiled to himself. Yes, things in life were going okay and he was happy.

Sasuke ran a hand up and down Naruto's back, content and happy for the first time in years. He reasoned out that the feelings he had for Naruto weren't those of a close friend, or a brother, but were rather ones of affection. He dismissed the idea of it being love, because it wasn't possible. He had sworn never to let that form of bond weaken him, but his heart was saying that it wouldn't, only make him stronger. Either way, he was happy where he was, and wasn't going to change it for the world.

They stayed like that until he felt Naruto shift and sit up as he opened his eyes, trying to recall when he had closed them. Naruto leant in close and pressed his lips to Sasuke's, starting off their first actual kiss. Sasuke slipped his one of his hands into Naruto's hair, pulling him closer and the other tightening around his waist. Naruto threaded a hand into Sasuke's hair, the other one gripping tightly on Sasuke's shirt. Naruto pulled back, breathless, but with a big smirk on his face. His face was barely inches away from Sasuke's.

"I suppose that means that you're okay with us then." He stated, fingers playing with dark strands of hair. Sasuke nodded and Naruto sat up quickly, letting Sasuke's hand fall from his head. He jumped up smirking. "Right! You up for some training then? I've been dying to kick your arse." His blue eyes danced with more excitement then usual, and Sasuke couldn't decide if that it was because Naruto wasn't wearing his mask, or that he was happy about them together.

"You're on." Sasuke stood up before chasing the now running Naruto, who was laughing and smiling like a madman.

The two ran around, hurling punches and kicks at each other, oblivious of the lone female figure sitting in the trees, smiling at their new found happiness.

She pushed a red strand of hair back as she pulled at the shorts she was now wearing, along with a halter top. "They don't know it yet, but they have a lifetime of love and happiness waiting for them in each other. And who knows, maybe they can be the start of something new, rebuilding that which was destroyed."


End file.
